• Wind and Structures
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.509-520
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• 2021

The streamlined box is a common type of girders for long-span suspension bridges. Spanning deep canyons, long-span bridges are frequently attacked by strong winds with large angles of attack. In this situation, the flow field around the streamlined box changes significantly, leading to reduction of the flutter performance. The wind fairings have different effects on the flutter performance. Therefore, this study examines the flutter performance of box girders with different wind fairings at large angles of attack. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out to extract the flutter derivatives, and the critical flutter state of a long-span bridge was determined. Further comparisons of the wind fairings were investigated by a rapid method which is related to the input energy by the aerodynamic force. The results show that a reasonable type of wind fairings could improve the flutter performance of long-span bridges at large angles of attack. For the torsional flutter instability, the wind fairings weaken the adverse effect of the vortex attaching to the girder, and a sharper one could achieve a better result. According to the input energies on the girder with different wind fairings, the symmetrical wind fairings are more beneficial to the flutter performance

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.77-93
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• 2015

The idea of using measured dynamic characteristics for damage detection is attractive because it allows for a global evaluation of the structural health and condition. However, vibration-based damage detection for complex structures such as long-span cable-supported bridges still remains a challenge. As a suspension or cable-stayed bridge involves in general thousands of structural components, the conventional damage detection methods based on model updating and/or parameter identification might result in ill-conditioning and non-uniqueness in the solution of inverse problems. Alternatively, methods that utilize, to the utmost extent, information from forward problems and avoid direct solution to inverse problems would be more suitable for vibration-based damage detection of long-span cable-supported bridges. The auto-associative neural network (ANN) technique and the probabilistic neural network (PNN) technique, that both eschew inverse problems, have been proposed for identifying and locating damage in suspension and cable-stayed bridges. Without the help of a structural model, ANNs with appropriate configuration can be trained using only the measured modal frequencies from healthy structure under varying environmental conditions, and a new set of modal frequency data acquired from an unknown state of the structure is then fed into the trained ANNs for damage presence identification. With the help of a structural model, PNNs can be configured using the relative changes of modal frequencies before and after damage by assuming damage at different locations, and then the measured modal frequencies from the structure can be presented to locate the damage. However, such formulated ANNs and PNNs may still be incompetent to identify damage occurring at the deck members of a cable-supported bridge because of very low modal sensitivity to the damage. The present study endeavors to enhance the damage identification capability of ANNs and PNNs when being applied for identification of damage incurred at deck members. Effort is first made to construct combined modal parameters which are synthesized from measured modal frequencies and modal shape components to train ANNs for damage alarming. With the purpose of improving identification accuracy, effort is then made to configure PNNs for damage localization by adapting the smoothing parameter in the Bayesian classifier to different values for different pattern classes. The performance of the ANNs with their input being modal frequencies and the combined modal parameters respectively and the PNNs with constant and adaptive smoothing parameters respectively is evaluated through simulation studies of identifying damage inflicted on different deck members of the double-deck suspension Tsing Ma Bridge.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.479-492
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• 2002

A finite element aerodynamic model that can be used to analyse flutter instability of long span bridges in the time domain is presented. This approach adopts a simplified quasi-steady formulation of the wind forces neglecting the vortex shedding effects. The governing equations used are effective only for reduced velocities $V^*$ sufficiently great: this is generally acceptable for long-span suspension bridges and, then, the dependence of the wind forces expressions of the flutter derivatives can be neglected. The procedure describes the mechanical response in an accurate way, taking into account the non-linear geometry effects (large displacements and large strains) and considering also the compressed locked coil strands instability. The time-dependence of the inertia force due to fluid structure interaction is not considered. The numerical examples are performed on the three-dimensional finite element model of the Great Belt East Bridge (DK). A mode frequency analysis is carried out to validate the model and the results show good agreement with the experimental measurements of the full bridge aeroelastic model in the wind tunnel tests. Significant parameters affecting bridge response are introduced and accurately investigated.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.637-662
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• 2013

The Jiangyin Bridge is a suspension bridge with a main span of 1385 m over the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China. Being the first bridge with a main span exceeding 1 km in Chinese mainland, it had been instrumented with a structural health monitoring (SHM) system when completed in 1999. After operation for several years, it was found with malfunction in sensors and data acquisition units, and insufficient sensors to provide necessary information for structural health evaluation. This study reports the SHM system upgrade project on the Jiangyin Bridge. Although implementations of SHM system have been reported worldwide, few studies are available on the upgrade of SHM system so far. Recognizing this, the upgrade of original SHM system for the bridge is first discussed in detail. Especially, lessons learned from the original SHM system are applied to the design of upgraded SHM system right away. Then, performance assessment of the bridge, including: (i) characterization of temperature profiles and effects; (ii) recognition of wind characteristics and effects; and (iii) identification of modal properties, is carried out by making use of the long-term monitoring data obtained from the upgraded SHM system. Emphasis is placed on the verification of design assumptions and prediction of bridge behavior or extreme responses. The results may provide the baseline for structural health evaluation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.491-504
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• 2002

A state-space method is proposed to analyze the aerodynamically coupled flutter problems of long-span bridges based on the modal coordinates of structure. The theory about complex modes is applied in this paper. The general governing equation of the system is converted into a complex standard characteristic equation in a state space format, which contains only two variables. The proposed method is a single-parameter searching method about reduced velocity, and it need not choose the participating modes beforehand and has no requirement for the form of structure damping matrix. The information about variations of system characteristics with reduced velocity and wind velocity can be provided. The method is able to find automatically the lowest critical flutter velocity and give relative amplitudes, phases and energy ratios of the participating modes in the flutter motion. Moreover, the flutter analysis of Jiangyin Yangtse suspension bridge with 1385 m main span is performed. The proposed method has proved reliable in its methodology and efficient in its use.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.3A
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• pp.241-256
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• 2010

This study intends to develop an aerodynamic girder for suspension bridge with width corresponding to 1/70 of the main span length. In the first step of present study, parametric study for the effects of major structural properties on aerodynamic stability of bridges was performed. The span length and natural frequency of bridges were found to be free from girder width, girder height, and aspect ratio of width to height. The empirical equation according to confidence interval was proposed to estimate the natural frequencies of bridges from span length. From the sensitivity analysis, it was revealed that the torsional frequency was dominant parameter among various structural properties that affected flutter velocity mostly. The final aerodynamic bridge section which satisfied the flutter criteria was found from section wind tunnel tests for 30 cross sectional models. The aerodynamic stability of the developed cross section was verified by multimode flutter analysis. The present economical cross section can be used for long span suspension bridge.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.88 no.1
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• pp.53-65
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• 2023

With the gradual implementation of long-span suspension bridges into high-speed railway operations, the main beam's bending stiffness contribution to the live load response permanently grows. Since another critical control parameter of railway suspension bridges is the beam-end rotation angle, it should not be ignored by treating the main beam deflection as the only deformation response. To this end, the current study refines the existing method of the main cable shape and simply supported beam bending moment analogy. The bending stiffness of the main beam is considered, and the main beam's analytical expressions of deflection and rotation angle in the whole span are obtained using the cable-beam deformation coordination relationship. Taking a railway suspension bridge as an example, the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed analytical method are verified by the finite element method (FEM). Comparison of the results by FEM and the analytical method ignoring the main beam stiffness revealed that the bending stiffness of the main beam strongly contributed to the live load response. Under the same live load, as the main beam stiffness increases, the overall deformation of the structure decreases, and the reduction is particularly noticeable at locations with original larger deformations. When the main beam stiffness is increased to a certain extent, the stiffening effect is no longer pronounced.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.719-737
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• 2015

Full scale measurement on the structural dynamic characteristics and Vortex-induced Vibrations (VIV) of a long-span suspension bridge with a central span of 1650 m were conducted. Different Finite Element (FE) modeling principles for the separated twin-box girder were compared and evaluated with the field vibration test results, and the double-spine model was determined to be the best simulation model, but certain modification still needs to be made which will affect the basic modeling parameters and the dynamic response prediction values of corresponding wind tunnel tests. Based on the FE modal analysis results, small-scaled and large-scaled sectional model tests were both carried out to investigate the VIV responses, and probable Reynolds Number effects or scale effect on VIV responses were presented. Based on the observed VIV modes in the field measurement, the VIV results obtained from sectional model tests were converted into those of the three-dimensional (3D) full-scale bridge and subsequently compared with field measurement results. It is indicated that the large-scaled sectional model test can probably provide a reasonable and effective prediction on VIV response.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.20 no.2 s.76
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• pp.55-68
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• 2007

• Wind and Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.39-61
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• 2017

Buffeting induced resonance (BIR) of hangers on long-suspension bridges is briefly reviewed, including mechanism and experimental verification. Taken the Xihoumen suspension bridge as a numerical example, sensitivities of the BIR of hangers to wind properties are investigated, including types of wind spectrum, turbulence intensity, and spacial coherence of wind fluctuations. Numerical simulations indicate that the BIR of hangers occur to both cases of different wind spectra, showing that it is insensitive to types of wind spectrum. On the other hand, it is found that the turbulence intensity affects buffeting of main cables almost in a linear manner, and so it does to the BIR of the hangers; however, the resonance factors, namely the ratio of the response of the hanger to that of the main cable, are little affected by the turbulence intensity. The spacial coherence of the wind fluctuations, although plays an important role on the buffeting responses of the main structure, has no substantial effects on the BIR of the hangers. Finally, replacement of steel strand with CFRP material has been verified as a very effective countermeasure against the BIR of hangers.